BEIJING: China reasserted its territories around a flashpoint reef in the South China Sea today, two days after the Philippines defined its own sea boundaries in the contested waters.
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos on Friday signed two laws defining the countrys sea waters and imposing fixed lanes for foreign ships, sparking a sharp riposte by China which summoned Manilas envoy.
Beijings foreign ministry said in a statement today that the government had delimited and announced the baselines of the territorial sea adjacent to Huangyan Dao.
This is a natural step by the Chinese government to lawfully strengthen marine management and is consistent with international law and common practices, it added.
It took control of Huangyan Dao, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal, in 2012 a strategic feature in the South China Sea closest to the Philippines.
China has brushed aside an international ruling that its claims to most of the South China Sea has no legal basis.
The Philippines Maritime Zones Act marks out waters that fall within Manilas territory as well as areas outside of it to which it has maritime entitlements, as agreed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
They include some waters contested by China which claims almost the entire South China Sea and has brushed off rival claims of several Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines among them.
A second law, the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, authorises the president to impose fixed sea and air routes through which foreign ships or planes may pass without compromising our national security, Marcos said at the signing ceremony.